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It was locked for a quasi-legitimate reason, but one that should be easily resolvable. I accidentally opened the app while on vacation in Iran and got an automa

It was locked for a quasi-legitimate reason, but one that should be easily resolvable. I accidentally opened the app while on vacation in Iran and got an automated message from Coinbase about Iranian nationals not being allowed to use their service, etc. Fair enough. The email simply asked me to prove that I was a US resident by sending in my driver's license and proof of residence (like a utility bill). Which I promptly did. Then nothing. For the record, I also opened my Bank of America app in Iran and BofA didn't seem to care at all. It's not like I was trying to trade, buy or sell - I literally just opened the app.

smarky 9y ago
In that case file a Consumer Finance complaint, and/or bring them to court.
jlardinois 9y ago
I had a similar issue with Venmo—a friend tried to pay me back for a Cuban sandwich, and the transaction was held up because he just wrote "Cubans" as the description. Only in Venmo's case, the issue was resolved mere hours after he sent an email explaining the situation. I opened a Coinbase account back in college ~6 years ago when they were giving $10 in Bitcoin to anyone who signed up with a .edu email address. I forgot about it until last summer, when I realized that amount was now worth around $160. I didn't have access to my college email anymore, so having to provide proof of identity was reasonable; having the entire process take a month wasn't. They also do this particularly insidious thing where if they don't respond to your request for two weeks or so, they automatically close it as unresolved. They do automatically reopen it if you send another email, but that you have to do that in the first place is dumb.
- cryptoz 9y ago
  Woah. Venmo parses and makes decisions on the description field before performing the transaction? That's wild. I would have thought that to just be a convenience field for the customers. So Venmo decides what you can spend money on and what you can't? Yikes, I'm happy to not use it regularly.
  - colinbartlett 9y ago
    Which is crazy because I've only used it once or twice but each time I've noticed many people use tongue in cheek descriptions like "for drugs" or "strippers" when they are just splitting a bar tab.
    - nsp 9y ago
      You will get called for this - I had a friends whose summer job at venmo was to call people and ask them to change the description from ‘sex’ or ‘drugs’ to something more innocuous - or to please stop buying drugs through Venmo.
  - IronKettle 9y ago
    More than likely (in fact I would put it at like, 99% chance): It's an OFAC thing. If they allow money transactions from Cuban nationals they run the risk of pissing off the Treasury dept. Many companies do it in a very ham-fisted way (flag anything with "Cuba" in the title, etc.).
  - jjeaff 9y ago
    That's why for every single transaction that I do on venmo, I put "payment" as the descriptor.
  - PeterisP 9y ago
    Every payment service provider is required to filter transactions if they offer payment services to consumers. (Part of AML, anti-money-laundering legislation) In essence, there's a set of things that money can't be spent on, and it's their responsibility to take measures ensuring that their customers don't spend (in significant amounts) money on that, and show that these measures are reasonably effective (i.e. that they're not just for show - if they assist their customers to circumvent their filters, that's a crime) or not offer payment services at all. For some of the wider restrictions (e.g. payments to cuban nationals) it may result in quite wide-catching automatic filters; and it's the choice of the company whether just to block the payment or spend time and $ to have a human look at the payment and make a decision on whether you can spend money on that or not. If you want to use services that ignore what you can spend money on and what you can't, you literally have to use illegal services - no legitimate company in the western world is allowed to offer that.
newyankee 9y ago
Hi Benbreen i would really appreciate it if you could contact me some way.
zaroth 9y ago
Oh so you literally trigger the highest alert absolutely possible for them doing business with you and you’re surprised they never wanted to speak with you again?! Minor fucking missing detail...

smarky 9y ago

In that case file a Consumer Finance complaint, and/or bring them to court.

jlardinois 9y ago

I had a similar issue with Venmo—a friend tried to pay me back for a Cuban sandwich, and the transaction was held up because he just wrote "Cubans" as the description. Only in Venmo's case, the issue was resolved mere hours after he sent an email explaining the situation. I opened a Coinbase account back in college ~6 years ago when they were giving $10 in Bitcoin to anyone who signed up with a .edu email address. I forgot about it until last summer, when I realized that amount was now worth around $160. I didn't have access to my college email anymore, so having to provide proof of identity was reasonable; having the entire process take a month wasn't. They also do this particularly insidious thing where if they don't respond to your request for two weeks or so, they automatically close it as unresolved. They do automatically reopen it if you send another email, but that you have to do that in the first place is dumb.

cryptoz 9y ago
Woah. Venmo parses and makes decisions on the description field before performing the transaction? That's wild. I would have thought that to just be a convenience field for the customers. So Venmo decides what you can spend money on and what you can't? Yikes, I'm happy to not use it regularly.
- colinbartlett 9y ago
  Which is crazy because I've only used it once or twice but each time I've noticed many people use tongue in cheek descriptions like "for drugs" or "strippers" when they are just splitting a bar tab.
  - nsp 9y ago
    You will get called for this - I had a friends whose summer job at venmo was to call people and ask them to change the description from ‘sex’ or ‘drugs’ to something more innocuous - or to please stop buying drugs through Venmo.
- IronKettle 9y ago
  More than likely (in fact I would put it at like, 99% chance): It's an OFAC thing. If they allow money transactions from Cuban nationals they run the risk of pissing off the Treasury dept. Many companies do it in a very ham-fisted way (flag anything with "Cuba" in the title, etc.).
- jjeaff 9y ago
  That's why for every single transaction that I do on venmo, I put "payment" as the descriptor.
- PeterisP 9y ago
  Every payment service provider is required to filter transactions if they offer payment services to consumers. (Part of AML, anti-money-laundering legislation) In essence, there's a set of things that money can't be spent on, and it's their responsibility to take measures ensuring that their customers don't spend (in significant amounts) money on that, and show that these measures are reasonably effective (i.e. that they're not just for show - if they assist their customers to circumvent their filters, that's a crime) or not offer payment services at all. For some of the wider restrictions (e.g. payments to cuban nationals) it may result in quite wide-catching automatic filters; and it's the choice of the company whether just to block the payment or spend time and $ to have a human look at the payment and make a decision on whether you can spend money on that or not. If you want to use services that ignore what you can spend money on and what you can't, you literally have to use illegal services - no legitimate company in the western world is allowed to offer that.

newyankee 9y ago

Hi Benbreen i would really appreciate it if you could contact me some way.

zaroth 9y ago

Oh so you literally trigger the highest alert absolutely possible for them doing business with you and you’re surprised they never wanted to speak with you again?! Minor fucking missing detail...